Chicago Tribune

Chicago hospital shooting

A Chicago police officer and multiple other people, including an apparent shooter, were wounded in an "active shooter" attack at Mercy Hospital on the Near South Side that brought out a large police presence Monday afternoon, authorities said.More

Authorities were reporting multiple victims in an “active shooter” attack at Mercy Hospital in the 2500 block of South Michigan Avenue on the Near South Side of Chicago on Nov. 19, 2018. There were “Reports of multiple victims” in the attack, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a tweet.

(Chicago Tribune)

Top news

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, businessman Willie Wilson, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and Southwest Side attorney Jerry Joyce all were in line early Monday to drop off signatures to get on the ballot for the Chicago mayor's race.

Mayoral contenders and dozens of aldermanic candidates, their election lawyers and supporters stood in line Nov. 19, 2018, to file nominating petitions to get on the Feb. 26 city ballot. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Mayoral contenders and dozens of aldermanic candidates, their election lawyers and supporters stood in line Nov. 19, 2018, to file nominating petitions to get on the Feb. 26 city ballot. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Opinion

Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker surprised critics by committing to a worthy goal: two years of truly balanced budgets with no income tax hike. Pritzker says he wants to “bring efficiencies to government,” but the state’s $2 billion structural deficit cannot be closed through more judicious ordering of...

We often deliver frank advice to members of Congress. Today we deliver a frank alert: If companies that provide high-quality reporting and commentary can’t freely bargain with the likes of Google and Facebook for a fair marketplace, then the news industry’s downward financial spiral will only intensify....

Of all the roles of the presidency, commander in chief was perhaps the one that candidate Donald Trump most relished. His take-charge style, his hat and slogan, his command presence on the stage, his early experience at New York Military Academy and his boasting that "I know more about ISIS than...

“I can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie.” Those words, attributed to George Washington at the age of 6, appeared in the fifth edition of Mason Locke Weems's “The Life of Washington,” published in 1806. In case you've forgotten the details of the story: Young George cut down a cherry...

Sports

The Bears were able to create balance in their play calling and get running back Jordan Howard downhill for enough success on the ground to keep the Vikings off balance. Conversely, the Vikings had their third-worst rushing day in 20 years.

Can we talk about the Bears’ first TD drive against the Vikings on Sunday night? OK. Fine. It was their only TD drive Sunday night. But still, it was the kind of varied play calling and relentless execution we have seen only from opponents for years, and now the Bears were doing it against a winning...

In what was the Bears’ biggest all-around test of the season so far, coach Matt Nagy’s team embraced the increased spotlight, rose to meet the moment and defeated the Vikings 25-20. Stage fright? These Bears? Hardly.

Business

Sesame is the ninth most common food allergen for kids, and nearly one in three children with a sesame allergy is rushed to the emergency room each year, according to new research that comes as the federal government considers adding sesame to the list of allergens that food manufacturers must...

One of Chicago’s most prominent strip clubs has gone corporate. RCI Hospitality Holdings, a publicly traded Texas chain, purchased VIP’s Gentlemen’s Club in Chicago for $10.5 million this month, adding it to a growing portfolio of more than 40 upscale clubs across the U.S. The Near North Side club,...

Thanksgiving season at Kauffman Turkey Farms in Waterman, Ill., is either the best or worst time to visit, depending on how you stomach such things. Hundreds of clucking turkeys patter about – nervously? – in an outdoor pen, their pink heads snapping to attention when a tractor rumbles in hauling...

A forecast that combines colder-than-expected weather and a short supply of natural gas means Chicago-area utility bills may increase more sharply this winter than in recent years. For millions of suburban residents, a requested $230 million delivery rate increase from Nicor Gas could mean even...

Entertainment

In the backyard of the Winnetka Historical Society, behind a fence of manicured hedges, there stands an ancient jungle gym, a monolithic, caramel-color 7-foot tall cube of deliberately spaced sharp angles, a geometric Tetris of rusted pipes not soldered end to end but fastened curiously in place...

The fraught election season of blue and red is (sort of) in the rearview mirror as bright holiday colors deck the halls and malls. Before you’re overloaded with shopping and socializing, take time out to relax and let others entertain you. From Scrooge to “SnowGirls,” symphonies to soul — and with...

For Jefferson Pierce, loving father, high school principal and title character on the CW’s “Black Lightning,” being a superhero doesn’t come without a few aches and pains. For the show’s star Cress Williams, playing a superhero comes with some real-life aches and pains as well. “The suit itself...

Given the excitement occasioned by 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, now the youngest woman ever to be elected to the United States Congress, dollars to donuts that a lot of people in TV land already have had the same idea: create a show about what happens when a true progressive candidate,...

Life & Style

You know Turkey Day is rapidly approaching when inordinate amounts of canned pumpkin puree and oversize frozen fowls start flowing out of your neighborhood grocery store. But despite the excitement (or dread) surrounding the annual family-focused feast, we often overlook the very reason for its...

Do you consider yourself an emotionally stable person? If so, new research suggests you are apt to spend more during the holiday shopping season than those folks who are nervous and have a lower stress threshold. If you fall on the latter part of that sentence, odds are you’re probably spending...

Along the Wabash Arts Corridor in the South Loop, dozens of large-scale murals adorn the neighborhood’s walls and buildings. A new apartment building soars above the creativity and adds artistic flair of its own. The hallways and common spaces at Eleven40, named for its street address on Wabash...

Q: You get invited to an event on an old slave plantation. You feel uncomfortable and aren't going. Should you tell the host the real reason you won’t attend? A: It’s so easy to wiggle out of an uncomfortable situation by — let’s call it what it is — lying. Responses like, “Oh, I have another engagement...

Blue Sky

Once the ball drops and the confetti has been swept away, many people consider the start of a New Year as an invitation to give every aspect of their life a critical eye. From a long-term relationship that should have ended seasons ago to accepting the undeniable number on the scale, January 1...

Did you ever wonder what it is about all those blockbuster movie posters that pull you right in from the first minute? Well, whatever it is, it’s something you should strive for on your resume according to experts. “Like a movie poster or the first trailer you see, employers are looking at your...

RedEye

The 100-point Big Mac, a staple of Bulls home games that excited basketball fans regardless of the team’s record, is no more. But there’s a new free food deal at the United Center — and it involves Portillo’s hot dogs. For more than 20 years, McDonald’s ran a promotion where if the Bulls scored...

If there’s one thing we wish for when we’re feeling down, it’s a pep talk from Karamo Brown, the resident “culture expert” on Netflix’s Emmy Award-winning “Queer Eye” reboot. Don’t get us wrong — we’re crazy about every single member of the Fab Five. There’s just something about Brown’s calm, soothing...

The WWE is halfway through this year’s edition of the four-day Survivor Series, but it has already started making public plans for the 2019 event — and it’ll be in Chicago. The entertainment organization tells RedEye next year’s wrestling mega-fest will be held Nov. 22-25 at the Allstate Arena...

Autos

DETROIT (AP) — Testing by AAA shows that electronic driver assist systems on the road today may not keep vehicles in their lanes or spot stationary objects in time to avoid a crash. The tests brought a warning from the auto club that drivers shouldn't think that the systems make their vehicles...

The good news about the refreshed 2019 Honda Pilot Elite is the nine-speed transmission operates without a hitch. The bad news is the top trim level costs over $48,000. What’s worse is that price is about average for a well-equipped three-row midsize SUV. A basic Acura MDX with the same powertrain...

Most read stories this hour

A Chicago police officer and multiple other people, including an apparent shooter, were wounded in an “active shooter” attack at Mercy Hospital on the Near South Side that brought out a large police presence Monday afternoon, authorities said. The officer was critically injured in the shooting...

Authorities were reporting multiple victims in an “active shooter” attack at Mercy Hospital in the 2500 block of South Michigan Avenue on the Near South Side of Chicago on Nov. 19, 2018. There were “Reports of multiple victims” in the attack, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a tweet.

Here’s hoping ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” crew paid close attention to the Bears-Vikings on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” — and not just because it was an entertaining game. The much-derided rookie “MNF” team of Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten and Booger McFarland would benefit from studying Al...

10 thoughts after the Bears defeated the Vikings 25-20 Sunday night at Soldier Field to win their fourth straight game, the longest winning streak since the 2012 season. 1. Go back a month ago and the Bears felt like they were on the cusp of being special, not just good but special. The defense...

“The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert said his “life has never been the same” since an encounter in Chicago three decades ago that restored his faith in God. The Northwestern University and Second City alumnus, who was raised Catholic, said he was walking down the street here at age 22 when someone...

The father of a football player is accused of influencing the outcome of a recent game in favor of Nazareth Academy and is at the center of a lawsuit filed by groups associated with Simeon Career Academy against the Illinois High School Association. The Simeon Alumni Association, the Blue Machine—the...

The Bears imposed their will on the Vikings offense in the trenches Sunday night, the biggest factor as they built a comfortable lead and finished off a 25-20 victory at Soldier Field. The Vikings rushed for a meager 22 yards on 14 carries, their third-worst rushing effort in the last 20 seasons,...

Firefighters had a pretty good idea of how they would rescue six people trapped in an elevator at the former John Hancock Center early Friday. But first, they had to find the elevator. The not-so-express elevator was stuck somewhere between the 95th floor and the lobby of Chicago’s fourth-tallest...

The Rolling Stones are re-fueling their tour machine for a series of U.S. stadium dates next year, including a June 21 stop at Soldier Field. The Chicago stop, announced Monday, will conclude the 13-show tour, which opens April 20 in Miami. It will continue a remarkable seven-decade touring career...

Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker surprised critics by committing to a worthy goal: two years of truly balanced budgets with no income tax hike. Pritzker says he wants to “bring efficiencies to government,” but the state’s $2 billion structural deficit cannot be closed through more judicious ordering of...

Blommer Chocolate is being sold to Japanese ingredient company Fuji Oil Holding, ending three generations of family ownership of the iconic cocoa manufacturer. Blommer, founded in Chicago in 1939, announced Monday that all of its business entities, including its five manufacturing operations, will...

U.B. Dogs (185 N. Franklin St.), one of the last great hot dog stands left in Chicago's Loop, plans to close at the end of the year. According to owner Joe Plonka, business has been great. He just needs a break. "It's been a fun eight years," says Plonka over the phone. "Obviously, the decision...

Venerable Jewish deli The Bagel will close at the end of the month after 31 years in Skokie. Owner Danny Wolf and general manager Haya Golenzer announced late last week on Facebook that the restaurant will close Nov. 29. “The mall wants this space to reconfigure the area, since Lord & Taylor left...

As a kid, Jabari Parker sometimes got his clothes from the thrift store. The second-hand threads never bothered him. “I found value in my clothes because I wasn’t seeing them elsewhere and some of them started becoming collectible items,” said Parker, sitting inside the sparkling Bulls locker room...

The shooting death of security guard Jemel Roberson at the hands of a south suburban police officer has left security professionals puzzled, saying it was an anomaly in a line of work well-acquainted with danger. Roberson, 26, was working security last week at Manny’s Blue Room, a Robbins nightclub,...

An unrepentant Dylann Roof was sentenced to death Tuesday for fatally shooting nine black church members during a Bible study session, becoming the first person ordered executed for a federal hate crime. A jury deliberated for about three hours before returning with the decision, capping a trial...

Thanksgiving is less than a week away, and federal health officials are still trying to identify the source of a salmonella illness outbreak linked to raw turkey products that has spread to 35 states and sickened 164 people. The outbreak, which started a year ago, has sent 63 people to the hospital....

A woman from Naperville has been named to this year’s class of Rhodes scholars. Kristiana L. Yao, a 2014 graduate of Naperville North High School, is one of 32 winners of the prestigious scholarships from the United States. The latest crop of U.S. Rhodes scholars has more women, 21, than any other...

It’s a tradition of Chicago political pageantry that happens every four years: a long line of aldermen, candidates who hope to replace them, lawyers and campaign staffers snakes through hallways below the Loop in the George W. Dunne Cook County Office Building. Standing in line by 9 a.m. to submit...

At first, Nora Leonard, 16, called her cancer “Jim.” “When we found out it was cancer, it hadn’t really hit me yet,” she said. “But I knew I didn’t like that word. So I said, ‘Can we call it Jim?’” It was the end of August, shortly before the start of Nora’s sophomore year at the Chicago Waldorf...

Chicago is in for ballot bedlam starting on Monday, when an anticipated 16 candidates for mayor will begin submitting the required nominating petitions to qualify for the Feb. 26 city election. The arcane process, in which each hopeful turns in thousands of voter signatures, will kick off a monthlong...

The exclamation point came with 8 minutes, 30 seconds remaining Sunday night, with the Bears still trying to seal a game they so completely controlled. The Vikings were hanging around, though, down only eight points and with the ball. The Bears defense knew what was needed. More precisely, safety...

Almost 400 homes, offices and restaurants could soon be under construction on the city’s West Side, across the street from where TV shows such as “Chicago Fire” and “Empire” are filmed. The Habitat Co.’s planned $200 million Ogden Commons development was approved Thursday by the Chicago Plan Commission,...

This much is known about the death of Jemel Roberson: The armed security guard was trying to subdue a suspect in a bar shooting in Robbins early Sunday when he was shot by a Midlothian police officer who responded to the call. Roberson was black; the unnamed police officer is white. Beyond that,...